John Hogg (President) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Pursuant to the order of the Senate that was agreed to today, the Senate will now move to valedictory statements.

Trish Crossin (NT, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

In June 15 years ago, I stood in this chamber and gave my first speech. I have checked today to make sure that Senator Vanstone is not about! So, hopefully, I will get this one finished! Back then, I was stopped at the 20-minute mark exactly. You might recall that, Senator Faulkner. History will show how that was resolved. I also got a note passed me in those fleeting seconds, which seemed like hours, from former senator Stott Despoja. It said, 'You've pissed off Amanda. You're my hero.' It helped me come to the realisation that colleagues in this place do not always come from your own party, and so started my journey in this place.

I am the first woman to be elected to the federal parliament from the Northern Territory and the first woman to be elected to the Senate from the Northern Territory. In my first speech, I was the first person to speak in Indigenous language in this chamber. Now, as of last November, I am the longest-serving senator from the Northern Territory. So, Nige, you might get to beat my record after all, mate!

I have sat in this chamber, in these seats, for 873 days out of the last 15 years, so far. I have attended at least 2,470 divisions and I have spent in excess of—wait for it—3,500 hours of my life with Qantas, flying to and from sittings here. Sometimes, I thought I saw more Qantas stewards than my own family. Being elected to the federal parliament is an amazing experience. Coming into the Senate provides you with a unique opportunity to be part of one of the best democracies in the world.

I am here, of course, to say thanks to the Labor Party members of the Territory, who have supported me five times during the pre-selection process over those years. I will talk about the sixth time in a few minutes. I want to thank the voters in the Territory for having the confidence in my ability to represent them here in Canberra. I hope Hansard are recording this infamous cough, by the way!

Let me start by thanking my husband, Mark. He is my best friend, a great support and a solid rock. Leaving you at home with four children—the youngest was two at the time—was a big ask. Your work and guidance, at times pretty critical, was welcomed. The challenges that we faced together during this time were invaluable. To Paul, my eldest, thank God I taught you to cook. There is no time to tell the spaghetti story here tonight, but thanks for helping out. Thanks for being there in many different ways during those years and being a good support. Mel grew from a teenager to a forthright, confident, professional young woman. Mandy, a great campaigner and political strategist, is now a competent union official. She declared, 20 minutes after the polls closed in 2007, 'It's a Rudd-slide.' That was the banner that was used in the local newspaper the next day. Miss Kate was only two years old when I first stood here in this chamber and rode Teletubbie scooters outside the President's office and slid around on polished wooden floors at the opening of parliament. She wondered at how we counted a division, when everybody in here has eyes and noses. Annabel Crabbonce described her as a 'serious insect'. You are a confident and smart young women who now has the world at her feet.

So, during this time we have had two weddings and four wonderful grandchildren. Mr Lachlan Simpson thought I had the coolest office in the world, because it was underground, so I must obviously work with Batman. Ms Jade Simpson loved all the moons hanging from the roof—of course, those are the clocks. Mr Seth Reed is my champion, and now there is little Kobe—who is here today—at only 11 weeks old. My sons-in-law, Ben and Greg, who do not care about politics at all, quite frankly, sat around our table each week just putting up with it. To my sister, Ann, and my brother-in-law, Peter: wow, thanks for being here today. What a surprise. Thanks for your support.

To my mum, finally: hi, Mum! I am going to wave to you. Through all those years you have watched question time and you have said to me, 'How come you never get to wave to me?' This is my big chance. Thanks for your collection of Amanda Vanstone comics, the articles you sent me about her and the political discussions we have had over the years. To my unbelievably supportive friends, my kitchen cabinet: Sue Murphy, Gillian Harrison and Anne Lindhe. I cannot find the words to thank you enough.

To my comrades in the trade union movement, especially in the NTEU, where I learnt so many of my skills to do this job: thank you so much. To my colleagues in the Senate—Kim, Claire, Gavin, Carol, Doug, Ursula and both Annes—and those in the other place—Anthony Albanese, Simon Crean, Robert McClelland and Kevin Rudd—thanks for your guidance and support. To those of you from other political parties across this chamber, thanks for your friendship and especially your support in the last few months.

My staff over the years included Cate Lynch; Peter Carmichael; Chris Hallet, who is here today; John Prior; Lesley, who is also here; Kimberley; and Mathew Bock is here—what a champion. Golden Noble-Harris is here as well, as are many others. Thanks for your work and advice. It seems so quick to say, 'Thank you,' but your work was always appreciated.

My thanks to Carla and Amanda for many years of supportive work with joyful team spirit, from pushing planes to dealing with donkeys at polling booths and endless weeks of mobile polling. My very special acknowledgement goes to Alison for being not just my right-hand person but the person that my family life relied on so much. We have worked together for 23 years, not 15. How can I ever repay you for what you have done, for being there, for your wisdom and your guidance anytime—two o'clock in the afternoon, 10 o'clock at night and all the time? Thanks to Rosemary Brissendon—who I hope is listening and I know that Michael is here—for your friendship and for housing me for years, and to the Murphys for the roof over my head.

To the Clerks of the Senate, Dr Laing, Harry Evans, Cleaver Elliott, our dear friend Anne Lynch and the many other Senate staff—what an outstanding operation. To my Senate Standing Committee on Legal and Constitutional Affairs team, how lucky was I to get to chair such an intelligent, professional group of people to work with. Thank you for absolutely everything that you have done. To all the other committee staff I have come to know and have worked with—even those who have retired, John Carter and Peter Hallahan—thank you so much. To the chamber staff, you make life in here seamless and easy: thank you. To Hansard, Broadcasting, Parliamentary Services, men and women in the security office, the Parliamentary Education Office—too many to name each and every one of you, but all highly skilled and providing a first-class service. The Parliamentary Library, the best collection of this country's smartest minds—and I do not mean just the books but the people in it. Your knowledge and ability to assist in this place is a great asset and should always be well funded and independent.

To everyone in Comcar, you are truly our best mates, ever reliable and friendly. Thank you for caring about us personally; some weeks you are the only ones who do. To Tim and previously Kate in the dining room, thanks for looking after my guests and me over the years. Finally, to Dom and the team in Aussies, this might be the one very year, after 15 years, that I get to collect on our bet—he is a Carlton supporter and I am Essendon. I will not be there to see the sad look on his little Carlton face to take his $50 this year; he had better post it to me!

I clearly remember my first speech: 19 May this year marks 15 years since senior traditional owner Yvonne Margarula was arrested on her land for trespass, her own country at Jabiluka. It is now time to return this parcel of land to the World Heritage Park and amend the mining lease. This would be the true meaning of Closing the Gap and recognising that the mining world respects the wishes of these traditional owners and will leave that land alone for all time.

To my constituents in Katherine, you experienced one of the worst floods in recent times back in 1998 and again just a few years ago. I admire your resilience and sense of community that continues in the face of adversity. I will desperately miss the wonderful communities of Christmas Island and Cocos Islands. I recognise the representatives from Christmas Island here today. I know I have made lifelong friends in these places. I have sat on the Joint Standing Committee on the National Capital and External Territories for 15 years, and I have proudly represented your issues here in Canberra; protecting booby birds, red migrating crabs and robber crabs, to recognising the unique and difficult circumstances of having the country's most intimidating detention centre on your soil. While your communities share a friendship and acceptance for one another, you deserve much more support for the complex issues that continue on your beautiful home and wonderful tourist destination.

Cocos Islands need a permanent recreation centre and a decent cyclone shelter now that these islands house so many people asking for refuge. On Christmas Island there are many volunteers who are yet to receive the recognition from this country that they deserve for the role they played on that tragic days two years ago.

I have co-authored a book on the stolen generations to be used during the 2000 Olympics. As you know, I continue to lobby for compensation for members of the NT stolen generation. If we can find $21 million to fund the movie 20,000 Leagues under the Sea, surely—what more can I say? It leaves me speechless. I have supported the NT Working Women's Centre and recently gained four years funding for its operation.

In estimates nearly nine years ago I asked rather naively: how many people in this country have trachoma? The answer was: we do not know. This led to another long story. Finally, in 2009, thanks to you, Kevin, $17 million for the eradication of trachoma. I am thrilled to see that further funding for this important program was provided in the budget this year. The titles of five heritage houses at Myilly Point are now under the National Trust. I have campaigned against the abolition of bilingual education and mandatory sentencing. I have managed to get a community consultative committee established with the increased presence of refugees being detained in Darwin, and I have secured a Northern Territory representative on Minister for Immigration and Citizenship's advisory committees.

But my memories of this place go back to being an active member of the Parliamentary Group on Population and Development, lobbying for improvements in the reproductive rights of women, being actively involved in stem cell research legislation and access to RU486. Former senator Webber is here and will remember that well. I remember establishing the asthma parliamentary support group and lobbying for the building of the childcare centre in Parliament House—and it is here. Loads and loads of stories about that journey, but the excuse that the division bells would wake the babies really got me going that day. There was getting the Opposition Whip their own entrance—so, Senator Bushby, you can thank me for your own door.

The work in the Senate committees I truly enjoyed and I will fondly remember questions on Indigenous hearing and sight, fighting Senator Carr for just one hour for Indigenous education in estimates, the rights of donor conceived people and the endless matters relating to migration law and refugees. It would seem from the selection of committee reports today that that has not quite stopped yet.

Four years ago I initiated the review of the Sex Discrimination Act which led to some major amendments to this legislation. I initiated and tabled the Marriage Equality Bill in the Senate last year. As a country, we need to step up to the plate and recognise that people love each regardless of the sex of their partner and they want to be with that person for the rest of their life. So, let's get over it and let's just do it. Last December I was appointed chair of the Joint Select Committee on Constitutional Recognition for Indigenous People. The highlights of my time include: being part of the ALP gaining government in the Northern Territory in 2001 and, of course, winning the federal election in 2007; meeting Barack Obama; representing this parliament overseas; visiting the Antarctic; and chairing the Indonesian Parliamentary Friendship Group.

The Labor Party was formed 120 years ago to improve the lives of ordinary workers, to build this nation and to give us a fair share in a growing economy. Our platform talks about opportunity, responsibility and fairness. We have always been the champions of change but were always the defenders of rank and file involvement in developing our policies and choosing who will represent us at all levels of government.

I cannot give my valedictory speech and not mention the final steps in my journey. Do we need more women in parliament? Of course we do, but not at the expense of each other. Do we need Indigenous representation? Most certainly we do, but not in a vacuum without a plan or without a strategy. Just because one person says it must be so does not make it right or democratic. The review of the 2010 federal election recommended that intervention in party preselection by the national executive should only occur as a last resort, rather than as a first resort, and only in exceptional circumstances. There are many wonderful Indigenous members of the party in the Northern Territory who have now been denied the chance to replace me. This is grossly unfair. It is undemocratic and it is not the Labor way.

To those members of the national executive and those who are sitting right now in this chamber, I hope you have thought long and hard about what the party will do in the future to make sure that this is not unique and that this is not a one-off pick. What is lacking is an effective and active Indigenous network. We need to see that engagement through fair and democratic processes are now driven by you and those at the national level. The party must learn from this and must look to the future and engage with Indigenous members of the party seriously and genuinely to make systemic changes. In the aftermath of this preselection intervention, the Northern Territory branch should be given a seat at the national executive, because we are currently not at that table. The members of the party in the Northern Territory deserve at least some recognition for the way the branch has been treated, and the party should now commit to ensuring that all states and territories are part of this peak decision-making body.

Finally I must say something about the worst day of my Senate career, which in fact was not in January this year but the announcement of the Northern Territory intervention. To move into people's lives and communities in this way left me speechless and helpless. The people that I had lived and worked with were humiliated and shamed. They were left to wonder why and how it had come to this. Then, when we won government, they lobbied me continually to make changes faster than we did and to recognise that support and assistance was needed. The final report of the Royal Commission into Aboriginal Deaths in Custody says:

If there is one lesson we can learn from history, it is that solutions imposed from the outside will only create their own problems.

Isn't that so? Just have a look at the last five years.

The issue of giving back to Aboriginal people the power to control their own lives is therefore central to any strategies which are designed to address these underlying issues.

Warren Mundine is right in his view that commercial development and economic solutions are the only chance for Indigenous communities to escape poverty. The rights based agenda does need to be set aside and government engagement officers replaced with strategic economists and business developers; incentives need to be given to businesses to get out into remote communities and set up there; the land rights act needs to be reviewed and modernised. It is time to stop treating Indigenous affairs from a welfare point of view and grow and develop the industries that they are competent in.

Finally I want to pay my respects to Dr Yunupingu and his family. We taught together at Yirrkala and shared many moments. I hope to have more to say about that next week. I offer my deepest sympathies to Gurruwun, his wife, and those who are mourning his loss.

Let me finish by saying in Gumatj: Gumatjkurru wangakurru Gumatj. Bitjan ngarra yurru buku-gurrpan Yolngu-yulngunha. Now I would like to thank the Yolngu people: Bili walala mirrithirri gunga'yun ga marnggigurrupar ngarranha—because they have really helped me and taught me. Ngathili ngarra ganangumirringu—because when I got there I was full of my own white culture. Dhiyangu bala lundumirri—now I have plenty of Yolngu friends. Bilina. That is all I want to say. Let me leave by saying to you all—and Nige will get this: Nah, you mob, Djut Djutna.

Stephen Conroy (Victoria, Australian Labor Party, Minister for Broadband, Communications and the Digital Economy) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I thank you, Trish, for that contribution. It was moving. Trish, you are leaving on exactly the same terms on which you arrived. You joined the Senate in June 1998, representing the Northern Territory. As you mentioned, you were re-elected in five subsequent general elections. You joined the Senate with a background in work in education in the community on the Gove Peninsula and as an active union member.

Over the years, Trish has extended her connections with Indigenous communities and presented their perspective and expertise in this chamber as uniquely as she just has again. This has brought an invaluable understanding to discussions on how legislation will operate on the ground and this has been particularly important for her work in committees.

The area that comes to my mind—and, Trish, you touched on this a number of times already—is your work on the Northern Territory intervention, on the various committees monitoring and reviewing the effectiveness of the intervention. It has been extensive and highly valued over many years. In many respects, there is no more complex domestic issue for the government, and your input and the specialised knowledge that you have brought to those hearings and committee reports could not have made your family and your community prouder. I take this opportunity to say that your contribution has been greatly appreciated and your dedication to improving the lives of Aboriginal people in the Northern Territory is widely acknowledged.

In the last few years you have also chaired the Legal and Constitutional Affairs Legislation Committee, and your work here again has been thorough, thoughtful and invaluable. Just to mention one recent inquiry conducted by this committee, the review of the human rights and anti-discrimination legislation was a major task and has added greatly to how the legislation will operate in the future. Your committee work has been detailed and well grounded. I cannot believe the number of hours you described. That probably includes estimates as well. It is just incredible. You have developed, as shown by the response in the chamber here, cross-party relationships that at their best have made the Senate scrutiny of legislation and policy constructive and brought the chamber together.

As I said, you began your career in the Senate with a bang. I did go back and have a look at your first speech to get the flavour and a reminder of what happened at the time. You mentioned that your speech was notable for the thankyous given, as you have just done today, in an Indigenous language. It was also notable because, as you said, you pulled no punches—as you pulled none today—and you did draw a bit of a response at the time. You included a detailed critique of the cuts that were made to services in the Northern Territory by the then still relatively new Howard government. Your criticism drew a response from former Senator Vanstone, as has been mentioned, that resulted in your whole speech not being delivered and your last paragraphs being incorporated into Hansard. You have continued your fine tradition of pulling no punches.

You do tragically support the Essendon Football Club. I know that Mark is possibly not looking forward to discussing football with you as much as you are now planning on discussing it with him. I was not going to mention this, but now that you have mentioned it, yes, you did beat Carlton just a few weeks ago! I know that you like to remind him of that regularly.

I have joined you on a number of occasions campaigning for the National Broadband Network. You joined me pulling fibre. It is fitting that just this week we have turned on the very first live services of the National Broadband Network in Darwin. I know you will take great pride in that because the naysayers have continued to campaign against it but you have championed it in the Northern Territory every single day.

I also want to take the opportunity to acknowledge and thank your family for the support that they have provided to you over the years. It is a staggering number of hours that you have been on Qantas planes. I have always said to my friends and colleagues that it is tough enough living in the Melbourne, Sydney and Brisbane triangle, but to be a senator from Western Australia, the Northern Territory or Far North Queensland is an extraordinary commitment. That is something that you have shouldered absolutely brilliantly. It is great to see so many of your family here today. Mark, your husband, is, as you said, a Carlton fan. He may want some sympathy for having to listen to you more often, but, frankly, he is not going to get it from a Collingwood fan! Do not call me to say, 'Please, will you tell her to stop reminding me that we lost.' Also here are your son, Paul, and your daughters Melinda and Amanda, with baby Kobe and Kate. It is also great to see so many of your staffers and former staffers here—the other group that each one of us knows we cannot survive in this job without. They make us look great and we could not do this job without them and their behind-the-scenes support and hard work.

I give you one final promise, Trish. I will personally collect that 50 bucks from Dom because one should always take money off a Carlton fan if one gets the chance. I will make sure he hands it over at the end of the year. I want to congratulate you on 15 fantastic years. I look forward to seeing you up in the Northern Territory and possibly even Skyping you on the NBN when it is going.

Nigel Scullion (NT, Country Liberal Party, Deputy Leader of the Nationals) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I rise on behalf of the coalition to briefly respond to the final speech from Senator Crossin. As we know, Trish has been a Territorian, as we call it. To achieve that, you actually have to live in the Territory for some 30 years. As she has indicated, she was the first woman to come to federal parliament from the Northern Territory and the first to come to the Senate. If you want to know something about a parliamentarian, you can go to Google and find their maiden speech. I did that. But Trish and I—and I will relate this in a moment—had quite an interesting relationship on the way here. I remember how impressed I was, when I read her first speech, that she was the first to use Yolngu Matha in this place. She made a public undertaking to the people of not only her home town at that stage of Yirrkala but also North-East Arnhem Land, saying among other things, in Yolngu Matha, that she would work hard to represent them and continue to respect and acknowledge their rights. If you look back you will find that wherever Senator Crossin has gone she has done just that. Good on you, mate.

Senator Crossin is currently the chair of the Senate Legal and Constitutional Affairs Legislation Committee. I think it is reasonable to say that she has had a brilliant career in her work through the committee processes of this place. A lot of people think that this place is all about the theatre of this chamber, but a lot of the work of the Senate and of the parliament is actually conducted through the committee process. It is a really important process in ensuring that we get the legislation right. Trish, you have done an absolutely unbelievable job in that regard.

They say that the world is run by the people who turn up. That is something I live by and I can recall that, wherever I was, Trish was turning up. As a parliamentarian, as a politician, it was terrific, particularly in the Territory. You are out and it had rained lightly in the morning and you are screaming down a dirt road: 'There hasn't been anyone here. Great! Labor aren't here. I can just go and talk to them on my own.' You would scream into a place, the dust would settle, you would get out and say: 'How are you going?' They would say, 'Hi, Nigel. Get up here,' and I would go over and they would say, 'Trish is here. Come on!' Fair dinkum! Off we would go: 'Hi, Trish, how's it going? What are you doing here?' We would glare at each other and sit down with the community and jointly listen. I do not think many of the communities actually understand a lot of the differences and nuances in parliament. They think we are both to blame for everything and we are both trying to take the credit for everything. Those are some of recollections of Trish; she was just everywhere.

We share a passion for the Territory, we are the same age and we share the same address, seat 1A, on the way down from Darwin to Canberra. I have to reflect on the difficulties, which I appreciate, of how far away you have been from the mob up there behind me in the gallery—it is terrific to see them all here. I remember one of the first times I met Trish on the hustings. There was a meeting on a radio station where Trish was flogging me for being an idiot—and I was. I was actually such an idiot. I was on the way home from England trying to get rid of my British passport. I had done everything except drop-kick a corgi. I had managed to get home just in time after having gone through that process, for those who can remember. Trish was explaining what an idiot I was, and I managed to get in there in time. On the radio, she checked mine and read it out saying, 'Yeah, I suppose that'll pass.' That was the start of a great relationship.

The next time I met Trish I was annoyed in the morning. It was typical of an Aboriginal community: we had to go hunting. I said, 'It's supposed to be election day today. Oh, all right.' Off we went. It was fairly standard. We were in a white Falcon station wagon. Part of the suspension on the front had gone. It had never been registered, I suspect. The results of the morning's hunt were on the roof and there was claret running down onto the windscreen. Perhaps they had not knocked all the chips off me—I was dressed in a Hawaiian shirt. I said goodbye to my mates and stepped out and there was Trish. Straightaway—she was supposed to be my mortal opposition, and I was not really sure what was supposed to happen—she came over and said, 'Nige, how are you, mate? Good to meet you. Come on, I'll show you around.' I think the relationship has stayed pretty much that way.

I often think we in the Territory are very different. There are only two senators in the Territory, so there really is an obligation to work together. We have been very close colleagues and have worked together. We have worked together on both sides; we have worked together when I was in government and when Trish has been in government. I think that any future Territorians who are considering this place will find that such a relationship is an essential part of getting things done for Territorians.

The circumstances under which you leave this place are going to be more controversial and annoying than Amanda Vanstone, although I know that everybody here was mightily impressed. I have to reflect again that my personal view is that I do not understand it. I do not think many of us will understand. Maybe in their memoirs someone will throw some light on the fact that we have an Aboriginal woman—a traditional woman—who has spent 10 years as a Labor minister in the Northern Territory and we have Trish, who has spent 15 years as an outstanding senator, both standing for preselection in quite a reasonable preselection process. Trish was sharing with me that she was a bit nervous because Marion Scrymgeour is a very, very good candidate. Then I saw Trish in Sydney. It was very distressing. Out of the blue these things had happened. It was really a reflection on the Prime Minister's judgment. I say that not in a political sense. It is a great sadness to me.

It is sad that Kevin still is not here at this stage. I am not sure about the machinations of the next week and I do not wish to pour any porridge on your day—

Honourable senators: Don't mention the war!

Yes, don't mention the war! But, Kevin, if you are listening and you are going to do something, there is still time to undo a great wrong. On behalf of the coalition and the Territory, Trish: thank you.

Rachel Siewert (WA, Australian Greens) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Trish, I am going to miss you a huge amount. Because of the shadow portfolio and spokesperson roles I hold, I have worked a lot with Trish, and with Nigel. I am not a Territorian but I suspect I have spent more time in the Territory than most of our Senate colleagues. I have been in the Territory, in community, with Trish on many occasions. I cannot tell you how highly Senator Trish Crossin is regarded in those communities. This is quite obvious the minute you go into the communities with Trish—you see everybody coming up to her to ask her questions about what is going on and to show their respect for the work that she does. It has been a great learning experience for me to be in community with you, Trish.

Likewise, I remember my worst day in here, which was when the intervention was announced. I had a group of Central Australian traditional owners in my office the day it was announced, and I will to the day I die remember the tears flowing down their faces when they heard the news. I swore then that I would fight to oppose it—and I will continue to oppose it and its new invention, Stronger Futures. I still do not think that Stronger Futures has given the control and decision making to communities. We spoke on many occasions of things being just the same.

I have also deeply respected your chairing of the committees which I have participated on, such as legal and constitutional affairs. I must say that you have been very generous in the time that you have given me to ask questions in estimates. I also acknowledge the fair way in which you have chaired the many inquiries which I have taken part in. We have spent a relatively brief time together on the joint committee on constitutional recognition. I am very sorry that you will not be chairing that committee, because I think you have done a great job and you want to see constitutional recognition achieved.

The work that you have done for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities has been outstanding. A measure of that is that, since the announcement in January that you will no longer be in this place, whenever I have been in community or with members of the Aboriginal community, they have asked me: 'What's going on? What have they done to Trish?' They have shown a great level of disappointment that you were treated in the manner in which you were treated and that you will no longer be a senator—a senator who speaks so passionately about community interests and who ensures in all ways that the effect which any bills have on Aboriginal people and communities is taken into account.

I also remember the time we spent adding up numbers for the issues that you talked about—RU486 and stem cells. I have said in this place before that those occasions when we all work together across parties on various issues show the best of this parliament and this chamber. As I said, many people are greatly disappointed that you will no longer be in this place. I will miss your chairing of committees. I will miss being able to rant and rave with you about bad policies. I will miss the advice that you give on how policies affect the Territory and Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples. Your presence here will be greatly missed. I greatly value your input. The respect that you obviously have in this place is on show here today. I hope the respect that Nigel has shown you and the camaraderie that you as Territorians have continues in this place. I know that you both do your best. I have disagreed with you on many occasions but I know that you genuinely do your best to represent the interests of Territorians.

I wish you well. I wish your family well. It is nice to put faces to the names that I have heard talked about. I met Kate when she was smaller, but it is nice to put faces to the names that I have heard so much about over the years. To Trish's mum—Hi!

Senator Crossin interjecting—

And there is your sister. I have also heard a lot of stories about her. We do talk a lot about our families when we are on the road together. We all miss our families so we all share lots of stories about our families. Trish has shared lots about her sister. It is all good—mostly—except for the time when the mud crabs were thrown out instead of the cane toads. I will always remember that story. The rest of you will have to ask Trish about that one—they were frozen mud crabs that were thrown out. We will miss you, Trish. Well done. Congratulations. You are able to look back on 15 fantastic years of achievement—thank you.

Claire Moore (Queensland, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

It is a real honour to be able to share in the acknowledgement of my friend Trish Crossin. We are all going to mention her attributes. So many people are going to share in making the same kinds of words, but I want to start by thanking 'team Crossin'. One of the real strengths of this woman is her family and friends—there are many of them here—and also her staff members. They work as a genuine team, and that gives Trish the ability that she has shown for so many years to live out the total commitment and passion she has for the people of the Northern Territory.

When I first came here, I knew of Trish. I had worked with her husband, Mark, in the Northern Territory years ago. Her first words to me were: 'Welcome, mate, you've got a job to do.' I was sitting beside her in the same way as I am sitting beside her tonight, but in an area over there. I then learnt the process of the Senate. She knew all the rules. Trish is a teacher—she is an educator who actually shares knowledge. One of the things she shared with me was the way in which the Senate operated. Trish gave me advice about that through the day and she also gave me advice about the other people in the place and little bits of information about them.

When I first came here, I was terrified about the need to ask a question. As you know, you are given questions to ask. You are very careful about them, and when you get one you go, 'Oh, I don't know.' Trish is the only person I know who checks every question for grammar and punctuation and then changes the question to make sure that it is accurate. Education is so important to so many of us because, as we heard from Senator Siewert, when it comes to dealing with issues about the Northern Territory and Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander rights, Trish is overwhelmingly generous in giving support and knowledge to other people about the very important historical backgrounds of her patch.

On many occasions, she has provided me with visas to come into her area in the Northern Territory. When we are there, as we have heard from Nigel and also from Rachel, there is the obvious respect and affection which is given to Trish by her people—and all Territorians are her people. She represents the Territory with pride. But there is something extraordinary about going into an Aboriginal community with this woman, because the warmth and respect that the people have for Trish is given to us because we are with her. She takes us with her as her friends and we receive that welcome with her. I have had the joy on many occasions of going into community. Nigel, remember recently that we had the full welcome with spears!

With the knowledge and the passion that Trish has, she is a valiant warrior for rights and justice. Many times in our discussions on legislation—and she mentioned some of that in her speech—we talked about things that we genuinely believed should be changed, and she took that fight up to people across the chamber and in ministerial offices. Even when we did not get the answers we wanted, the fight continued and will continue. If anyone thinks that when Trish leaves this place as a senator her engagement in the issues and her genuine commitment to equity will not be taken up in another way, they do not know 'Team Crossin'. The fight will continue.

I particularly want to acknowledge Trish’s strength in having our backs through some very difficult times. Ruth Webber is in the chamber and she knows about times when we were gathering support where we did not always have support from the areas we thought we would have it. But Trish Crossin in this place was always with us. One of her absolute attributes is her direct honesty and the fact that she will tell it how it is. It may not matter that it is not what you wanted to hear and it may not matter that she will be questioning things that you think you are doing well; she will her give her advice, though not ever in a hurtful way. I have never known this woman to be hurtful in her contribution. What I do know is that you are left in no doubt about what the impact of your decisions will be, whether you are doing it right and how you had better stand up straight too—I remember that.

Trish was very generous in mentioning the Parliamentary Group on Population and Development. We have been through issues with that group and she was always there for us to offer her support. She worked with the Friends of Indonesia on the desperate issues of poverty and need in that place. She is always there making sure that we do our job, because the overwhelming focus of Trish’s work in this place is doing her job. Nigel quoted what she told the people in the community—that when she was here to represent the Northern Territory, that was her job, and she has done it. Thank you, Trish, for your inspiration, for your challenge—always for your challenge, because that is what makes us always stronger.

We have too many endless stories about that football club. Wherever we were we had to get scores. I know the colours of the club, which is lovely! I know the work that Mark and the family and you do to encourage sport across the board in the Territory. That is a way for people to have opportunities and expectations for the future, which is what you have always said. You wanted to ensure that there was real opportunity for all the people of the Territory, particularly for the Indigenous people.

Thank you for your work in committees, because it is so important. Rachel has pointed out the way in which you do your job as chair. I see the secretariat from the Senate Standing Committees on Legal and Constitutional Affairs up in the gallery. They are a great group. They have told me that you have chaired over 200 committees. I do not know how many hours that comes to. But I was told by the secretariat that six more bills were given to you yesterday. That should be good fun for you for the next few days!

Trish Crossin (NT, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Actually, what are they still doing sitting here!

Claire Moore (Queensland, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

They should be up there! People have mentioned the difficult committees that Trish has worked through, where there was passion and conflict and the need for a straight bat—sporting analogy there, Trish—to be able to move forward. I want to mention that Trish was aware that the secretariat of one of her committees was getting a hard time from some of the witnesses—important witnesses who felt strongly about issues and were overstepping the mark in how they were approaching the secretariat, demanding action and processes. Trish, as chair of that committee, stepped in immediately and ensured that her people were not going to be subject to bullying. She stood up and said, 'This is not the right way to behave' and did her job again.

So, Trish, I want to say thank you. You are the kind of person that we talk about when we tell people about the Senate. When we are asked, 'What does a senator do?' the kinds of things that we are going to hear this evening actually reflect what a senator does. Congratulations to you personally and to your family. Not only has it been a pleasure working with you—and we will continue working together; there is no doubt about that—it has been an honour to be a member of the Senate beside you.

Ursula Stephens (NSW, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Can I add a few words this evening to thank and congratulate Trish for her contribution to public life. As Senator Moore has just said, we have not heard the end of Trish. She may be leaving us, but there is definitely life after the Senate. We know that Trish, who is so much an advocate for public policy and fairness, is not going to go away.

There are some times in your life when you meet someone who has a very formative impact on you, and I think that everybody here who has served as a senator with Trish would say that Trish is definitely one of those people. As we have heard, she has been very generous in the way in which she has mentored and supported people in this place. She was very kind to all of us who came in here trying to make sense of how this place works. And, as Senator Moore just said, as a teacher and an educator, she has the gift of being able to make those things so much easier and so much simpler.

I know that Trish has been sitting here for nearly an hour, as have her family. We are going to have lots of opportunities to thank Trish and acknowledge her work. Many speakers have already talked about the specific work that she has done in this place. We all have great personal memories of our relationship with Trish, which we will celebrate on some other occasions. I was having a conversation with the Clerk, and we discussed what kind of a poem Trish deserved. In deference to her past work as a teacher and in recognition of how Trish always pares away the inessentials to get right to the heart of the matter, I have decided to apply the discipline of a sonnet for you tonight, Trish. Here it is:

Shall I compare thee to a summer's day?

I think I'll just resist that great temptation

And take this opportunity to pay

A tribute to your fine work for our nation.

Since '98 you've worked for the Northern Territory

Dragging us round the country in your zeal;

Indigenous rights were just one specialty

You wanted us to see, "to make it real".

On petrol-sniffing, migration and health

Committees were the beneficiaries

Of your insights and knowledge. And the wealth

Of fun we had in Ireland—what a wheeze!!

I'll miss you, Trish, and hope we remain friends

Long after both our time in Canberra ends.

Bridget McKenzie (Victoria, National Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Lovely, Senator Stephens.

Kim Carr (Victoria, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I want to pay tribute to the political career of Senator Trish Crossin. She has served her community, the Senate and her party with distinction. In the 15 years that I have known her in this place, she has been an outstanding senator. The Northern Territory is very different from other jurisdictions, electorally, demographically and geographically. A senator from the Northern Territory plays a very different role and has different sets of responsibilities to those of us from other states. Senator Crossin's duties have taken her to some of the most remote and some of the most disadvantaged communities in this nation, and she has served those people incredibly well. Whether it has been in the Indian Ocean Territories or the remote desert communities of the Northern Territory, she has been there on the job for those people. She has also fulfilled her duties with incredible dedication to the urban areas—to the city of Darwin and to the big towns in the Northern Territory.

Senator Crossin has been a servant of this chamber through her committee work. Former Senator Stott Despoja once described her as a 'workhorse', and I think that was meant to be an extraordinary compliment. I had the opportunity to work with her in the education committee. Through that work, I was able to really appreciate her humour and her humanity. We have seen her work in Indigenous communities and through the Indigenous work of this chamber in reconciliation, which has been a matter of great service to this nation. She was the first woman to represent the Northern Territory in this parliament and she has worked tirelessly for women's rights and for social justice in her time here. She has maintained her commitments to local sporting organisations, the Asthma Foundation, institutes for medical advancement in the Northern Territory and the Northern Territory Working Women's Centre. She does that on the basis of having to go back to Darwin at a level I find quite extraordinary. She has often complained to me about how little time I have spent in the Northern Territory. You do not have to spend a lot of time there to appreciate how difficult it is for senators represent those communities.

Senator Crossin's service to the Labor Party deserves particular recognition, because it is not just the community that she has chosen to serve so well. She has been unflinching, whether it be as local branch secretary at the Buffalo Creek branch or as president of the Territory branch itself. She has been a stalwart there and was a key player in the election of a Labor government in the Northern Territory. When I was at school, the idea of a Northern Territory Labor government was something people dreamt about. She has been extraordinary in her work here in this parliament for the Labor Party, through the status of women committee, for instance. I came to know her on various trips to the Northern Territory, where she sought to explain the politics of the Northern Territory from a Labor point of view, which was in itself an education.

I had the opportunity to listen to a broadcast recently describing Senator Crossin's journey to political representation of the Labor Party in this chamber. I want to share that with the Senate. It was broadcast on the ABC:

After growing up in a self described "working class family" in Melbourne's western suburbs—

They were wrong about that; it was actually in the northern suburbs—

Senator Crossin was lured to the Top End for a teaching position in 1980.

"I'd been teaching for three years and Mark and I decided we'd have a bit of an adventure," she says.

I can imagine how that was described at home! The broadcast went on:

"We applied to the Commonwealth teaching service and got offered a teaching position at … Yirrkala …

I was also a member of the Commonwealth Teaching Service, at the about the same time, but I got posted to Glenroy Tech. I suspect that you got the short end of the stick in that regard! The broadcast went on:

"We had a five-year-old son at that time so we opted to go to Yirrkala and we were only ever going to go for two years and we've never gone back."

At first it was hard for the city girl to adapt to her new environment.

"I had immense cultural shock, I took a very long to adapt. A very, very, long time to adapt. I'd come from the heart of Melbourne, I was a city girl. I arrived in a town that didn't have fresh milk back then, had ABC TV taped and relayed to us 24 hours later.

"I was even told not to bring all my white goods from Melbourne, they'd all be supplied and when I got to my house in Yirrkala there was one of those old washing machines that you had to put the clothes through yourself with a hand wringer. "I had long blond hair and in my first month my hair got stuck in the wringer and Mark had to cut it to release me and I cried and cried and packed my bags and walked to the airport many, many, many times and I had a lot of trouble adapting."

Senator Crossin says—

This is the report from the ABC—

it was the generosity and spirit of the Indigenous people in the community that led her to stay and inspired her to move into politics.

"Just the realisation that there were such enormous inequities out there in terms of ... access to health services and houses," she says.

"And also, I believed there needed to be more women in politics actually."

"There needed to be women in parliament, there needed to be people who could stand up and relate to what working women raising a family experience on a day-to-day basis."

I was one of the two members of the national executive of the Australian Labor Party who opposed Senator Crossin's disendorsement. I did so because I believed that no case had been made for that action to take place. I maintain that view. This was a particularly significant intervention because the process for preselection had actually commenced in the Northern Territory. I do not recall that happening anywhere else in this country—an intervention after a preselection process had actually commenced. While I wish Trish's successor every success—as I do every single endorsed Labor candidate across this Commonwealth—I still maintain, Trish, that you were treated unjustly. Senator Crossin's will be very big shoes to fill.

I also take this opportunity to remind the chamber that Senator Crossin was a national co-convenor of EMILY's List and a very active supporter of more Indigenous women participating in parliaments across this country. She had taken practical steps to see that through. I note that Senator Crossin and I had had other conversations about her replacement, who was to be an Indigenous person. So I was particularly disappointed at the position that EMILY's List took in regard to this preselection. I have never bought the line that EMILY's List does not get involved in preselections. Frankly, I thought they let the whole team down in this matter. To Trish, Mark and your entire family: I wish you well in civilian life and thank you for the service you have rendered.

George Brandis (Queensland, Liberal Party, Shadow Attorney-General) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I wanted to add a few words of my own in tribute to our colleague Senator Trish Crossin. I first came to work with Senator Crossin closely when, after the election of the Rudd government in 2007, she became the chair of the Senate Legal and Constitutional—don't laugh yet, Senator Crossin—Affairs Committee and I became, as shadow Attorney-General, the principal coalition participant on that committee. So, for the last 5½ years, Senator Crossin and I have shared the Senate Legal and Constitutional Affairs Committee.

An unastute observer watching some of the sessions of the Senate Legal and Constitutional Affairs Committee over the last few years might have jumped to the erroneous conclusion that Senator Crossin and I did not get on very well. There were certainly a number of occasions—a number of, may I say, splenetic occasions with some very splenetic explosions from the chair at what Senator Crossin perhaps thought were liberties I was taking in the examination of witnesses—when we did have the odd cross word. Nevertheless, it would be a superficial view to think that we did not get on very well. In fact, with the passage of time, I grew to be a great admirer of the way Senator Trish Crossin conducted the affairs of that committee—and perhaps I am not the easiest person to rein in when I am in an exuberant or expansive mood. Some have said that. But Senator Crossin never seemed to have any difficulty in doing so and in pulling me up. So, Senator Crossin, thank you and congratulations on the way you conducted the affairs of that committee so professionally and so well for so long.

In fact, you received a compliment about your conduct of the affairs of that committee from a slightly unusual source earlier this year when Mr Peter Coleman, a former Leader of the Opposition in the New South Wales parliament, a former minister in a New South Wales government and a former member of the House of Representatives—and therefore no stranger to parliamentary committee procedure—made some observations about you in his column in The Spectator. I thought I would celebrate the occasion by reading into the record what Mr Coleman had to say in The Spectator on 2 February this year. He had taken himself along to the Sydney hearings of the inquiry you were conducting into the Human Rights and Anti-Discrimination Bill and had this to say:

Senator Crossin has been far more active than most in the daily work of the Senate, especially in its committees, currently in the Legal and Constitutional Affairs Committee inquiring into the draft Human Rights and Anti-Discrimination Bill 2012 which purports to consolidate, simplify and clarify five existing Commonwealth anti-discrimination Acts.

He went on to make this observation about your conduct as the chair:

… Senator Crossin kept the exchanges moving along, stuck to the timetable, and maintained order … she did it professionally and senatorially—despite the occasional provocative intervention from Senator Brandis QC … Senator Crossin was competent, experienced and fair. It is hard to find any convincing reason why the Prime Minister should purge her.

I will come back to that.

The other committee on which I have served closely with Senator Crossin in the last 12 months is the Joint Select Committee on Constitutional Recognition of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Peoples. Senator Crossin has been the chair and I have been the deputy chair. I think it is a shame that the general public sees senators in a combative mode—that is part of the parliamentary process, to have a combative made across the chamber—but seldom sees members of parliament in the collaborative mode which the committee system of the parliament fosters and engenders. If they had seen Senator Crossin and me and all the other members of that committee, including our dear friend Senator Scullion, working in an entirely non-partisan way, in a collaborative, cooperative spirit, to bring together the consensus to achieve, in the next parliament, the fitting constitutional recognition of the First Australians, which all of us are committed to doing, then I think the public would have a very different perception, a much fuller and more rounded perception, of the way parliament works.

Once again, Senator Crossin, I think it is a tragedy that you will not be there to fulfil your work as the chair of that committee, but you were the inaugural chair of it, and, if at some time in the life of the next parliament, the recognition of the First Australians in the Australian Constitution is achieved by a successful referendum carried on a bipartisan basis, then there will be few, if any, who will have contributed more to that outcome than you will have done.

I was not going to refer to the unpleasantness that occurred in the Labor Party earlier this year, but it did not stop Senator Kim Carr or others, so I thought I might as well. I have been a member of the Liberal Party for all my adult life, so I am no stranger to brutal acts and dark deeds! But I must say I have never in all of my political life seen anything so brutal and unfair and disgusting perpetrated by a political party upon one of its own than that which was perpetrated upon Senator Crossin by the current Prime Minister, when Senator Crossin was—with no process at all and for no sufficient reason; in fact, for no good reason at all—summarily dismissed, having been properly preselected and being midway through a first-rate parliamentary career. I thought it was disgraceful and I doubt there are many people in this parliament, regardless of their party or factional affiliation, who would not share that view. I think you were very shabbily treated, Senator Crossin, and I feel sorry for you. Those who executed this attack upon you, which effectively terminated a very, very constructive and useful parliamentary career, should be very ashamed. But, sadly, I suspect they are not, because they are beyond shame.

As it happened, the political assassination of Senator Crossin by Julia Gillard occurred during the time when Senator Crossin was chairing the Legal and Constitutional Affairs Legislation Committee's hearings into the exposure draft of the Human Rights and Anti-Discrimination Bill. Senator Crossin arrived at those hearings in Melbourne on 23 January this year, within 36 hours of the undoubtedly unpleasant interview she had with the Prime Minister at the Lodge, and Senator Crossin was, I think it is fair to say, shaken. In the spirit of senatorial solidarity—I think I am allowed to say this, Madam Acting Deputy President McKenzie—Senator Crossin did somewhat confide in me about what had just been done to her. Little did we know that a very alert photographer was in the committee room, and that very alert photographer snapped a marvellous photograph of Senator Crossin confiding in me, which I might frame and present to you as a parting gift, Senator Crossin, and in which I hope I am exhibiting the appropriate collegial and pastoral concern and patience!

Honourable Senator:

An honourable senator interjecting—

George Brandis (Queensland, Liberal Party, Shadow Attorney-General) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I am shameless; that is true! So, Senator Crossin, I do not know why this was done. Perhaps the party that you have represented with some distinction for so long feels ashamed that, 42 years after Neville Bonner first took his seat in this chamber as a Queensland Liberal senator—the first Indigenous representative in this chamber—the Australian Labor Party has not given us an Indigenous representative in the Commonwealth parliament. And, I am bound to say, even when your designated successor takes her place, the Australian Labor Party will not have given us an Indigenous senator who was chosen through an orthodox preselection process. But whatever the reason, whatever the motive, you should never have been the victim, and all of your colleagues—certainly, all of your colleagues from the coalition—feel enormous sympathy for your position and, if I may say so, also respect the dignity with which you have borne such an unjust reversal of fortune.

Senator Crossin, you have been a person who everyone this chamber would acknowledge as an honest person, as a decent person, as a person who was passionate about the causes you believed in, as a person who was extraordinarily hardworking, and you have made of your years in this place a really, really substantial impact.

I try to understand politics, but there is one part of politics I have never been able to understand, and that is the inner workings of the Australian Labor Party. I have never been able to understand why, Senator Crossin, you were never a frontbencher, because certainly, among those of us on this side of the chamber, there are very few who would disagree with me that you are a lot more able than certain other Labor Party frontbenchers in this place that we have seen, including some of the current ones. But thus are the vicissitudes of political fortune.

If we set ourselves the test when we come here of, 'How would we hope to be remembered and what achievements and accomplishments would we wish to make to make the life our nation better?' you have fulfilled the tests and aspirations that you no doubt set yourself with flying colours, and you have earned the affection and respect of political friend and political opponent alike.

Jan McLucas (Queensland, Australian Labor Party, Minister for Human Services) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I will make a short contribution because I am sure that there are others who would like to contribute today. Trish, I pay tribute to you for many reasons. As senators from Northern Australia, we have a different way of looking at the world and we were able to do that together. Joseph and I came into the parliament very shortly after you did. So our time here has been matched up in many respects, and I call you 'the sort of class of 98', although you were a couple of months early.

Trish is an extraordinarily generous and thoughtful person. When I was elected, Trish was one of the first people to contact me—a person not even from my state, but I think recognising the fact that we are Northerners and we can talk another language. When people were talking about throwing the wrong bag out of the freezer, I knew they were talking about the toads not the crabs. I got that one.

Trish, the principles that you brought to the Senate are principles that have stayed the same—and I have observed that over a long time. You sent me a t-shirt that said, 'A woman's place is in the Senate,' and that has stood the test of time. You have shown great feminist values and principles that have never wavered.

Within some months of coming into this place, we established an inquiry into the operations of the Northern Prawn Fishery. I think that was a bit of a baptism of fire for both of us, but we got through that. We established that committee—and it was a bit of fun. Trish, your knowledge and your passion was brought to bear on many committees, and I particularly refer to the Joint Parliamentary Committee on Native Title, where we did a lot of work in those early years around the observance of how the Native Title Act was operating.

You are a straight talker—you call a spade a shovel. I think a lot of people have said that tonight. I value that, and I think we all value the frankness and decency that you bring to the deliberations you have made. Politics is a tough game. We know that—you know it more. But you can be very proud of the contribution that you have made over many years—as can your family be very proud. I know that contribution will continue to flow and I hope that we continue to maintain a strong friendship across that border.

Doug Cameron (NSW, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Firstly, can I indicate that I am extremely pleased to have been here to listen to a fantastic speech. You started your career in controversy and you are finishing your career in controversy. I think that is not a bad thing, Senator Crossin. The last thing you would want is to spend a lot of years in this place and have someone ask you whether you had been in the Senate. People will know that you have been in the Senate, I must say, because your contribution has been fantastic.

I want to thank you for the personal support and the personal friendship that you have given me in my time in the Senate. It has been fantastic. You welcomed me not only to the Senate but also to your home, along with Mark and your family when I came up to the Northern Territory on parliamentary business. Thanks for that. You have also welcomed my family from overseas to your home when they have come from overseas. You are a great friend and your family is a great family.

You are, I think, the epitome of what we should be looking for in this place—a trade union activist, a community activist, a parliamentary activist, someone who knows where they want to go, can articulate their values and stand up for the things that they think are important. That is how I have always found you, Trish, and it has been a pleasure to have worked with you—not for all of your career but for a short time in your career.

It is because of the genuine warmth that everyone here talks about here tonight—not in any confected way but in a genuine way—that I think people were appalled at the treatment that was meted out to you. As a personal friend, I was appalled and I took the view that I should say something about it publicly and I want to say something about it again tonight.

Sure politics is a tough game. Sure politics means that you cannot take anything for granted. But there is a level of common decency, I think, that should be in politics. If someone has made a contribution, like the contribution you have made, Trish, to your community, to your trade union and to the parliament, then they should be treated with common decency and dignity. You have made a contribution over many years, and I am appalled at the way my party has treated you and I hope that we never see the likes of that again. When you make a contribution, it is not only you that makes that contribution; your family, your staff, your friends and the other members of the Labor Party in the Northern Territory have helped make that contribution. Nobody comes here and makes a contribution as an individual; you come here as a collective. I would have thought that after the collective work that you have done, your commitment on every tough issue in this parliament and your commitment on every progressive issue in this parliament, you should have been treated with fairness and dignity. You were not, and it is a shame that the Labor Party was involved in that.

I hope that, given the broad support that you have across the Senate, you can find another career. Your capacity and your ability to contribute is still fantastic. In my view you still have a great contribution to make to public life in this country. You have made a huge contribution already, but I think you can make a bigger one. I hope that your family will continue to support you making a public contribution, because it is important that people of basic human decency like yourself make a contribution after having been a member of the Senate.

Sure this is a tough game, but it should not be a brutal game. The work that you have done over many years should be recognised. I, for one, will continue to publicly say that the contribution you made was fantastic, that your treatment was abominable—you should never have been treated like that—and that you should enjoy a career into the future knowing that you have many friends, many supporters, many colleagues and many good comrades in this place who will wish you and your family well for the future. Thanks for your friendship, thanks for your political activism, thanks for being a great trade unionist and thanks for being a great community activist. You are a great person. We will miss you and this place will be worse off for your leaving. I hope that you can continue to make a strong contribution into the future. Thanks, Trish.

Louise Pratt (WA, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

It is a great honour for me to pay my respects to Senator Crossin's wonderful career in this place. I want to begin by talking about my experiences on the Legal and Constitutional Affairs Committee, echoing much of what Senator Brandis said. I also want to acknowledge Senator Crossin's capacity to engage with the issues and to drive solutions into the reports of the Legal and Constitutional Affairs Committee. That has resulted in more change, just through the Legal and Constitutional Affairs Committee, than many senators in this place get to achieve in many years of contributions across a great range of issues. Senator Crossin has achieved so much, and the kinds of changes she has been able to drive through the committee reports I have seen will make a real difference to the lives of many Australians.

I also had the great honour of being with Senator Crossin on the National Capital and External Territories Committee. Christmas Island and the Cocos Islands are wonderful and extraordinary places, and I was delighted that Senator Crossin was able to introduce me both to the communities there and to the very significant issues that confront those communities. I do not think it is any surprise, Senator Crossin, that you have such a good understanding of the issues because of your passion and love for the Northern Territory, but as a Territorian senator you also understand the lack of representation that the Territory has at a state level because of the extraordinary powers that the Commonwealth has over the territories—an example being the power to intervene on issues like the intervention. It has been of great concern to me to witness the common issues that exist between Western Australia and the Northern Territory and the very different ways that they are managed simply because the Territory does not have its own exercisable state powers.

On that note it is significant that you have faced election every election, unlike other senators, and you have done that for some 14 years. In that context I also note the way that you were eventually undone in the preselection for election to this place, and it is a matter of regret for me that I will not have the opportunity to serve with you longer.

Touching again on the Indigenous issues that are common across the communities that we represent, you had a capacity to embed yourself in and be a part of Indigenous culture. I appreciate what an honour it would have been for you to have the opportunity to do that. There is a significant cultural divide in this country. We have a very westernised parliament and it is significant that you are one of the people in here who can break that down for ordinary Australians and bridge that cultural divide. It is a divide I hope more parliamentarians work to close, because so many Australians are ignorant of the enormous depth and diversity of Australia's Indigenous cultures. There can be no Indigenous culture without an Indigenous economy and without autonomy for Indigenous cultures within that economy. We have to value the intrinsic economy that exists in a culture when you give it autonomy. This was something that you highlighted with the intervention—it is the complete opposite to the way we should be empowering these communities.

Trish, you have also contributed to the Labor Party's Status of Women Committee. It was a great joy to me, as a Labor feminist, to have had your guidance as a previous chair and to share that mutual commitment that we and many other Labor women have. Indeed, it is that great sense of solidarity that helps me get through the long periods of time that I spend away from my family and my home. That sense of solidarity is certainly something you have offered to me and to other Labor women. Finally, I want to say thank you on behalf of Australia's LGBTI community. You have been a really wonderful advocate for our community and you have made a real difference. Thank you.

Sitting suspended from 18 : 30 to 19 : 00